Skip to content
  1. Home
  2. Opinion

Poll: More than two-thirds of North Shore readers oppose the 'Freedom Convoy' protesters

But opinions are split, with 18 per cent of local North Van and West Van readers supporting the anti-mandate 'trucker' convoy blockades.
Jane Seyd
Jane Seyd
2022-02-09 truck protest 1
The majority of North Shore residents – and Canadians in general – are fed up with the 'Freedom Convoy,' according to recent polls. photo Nigel Newlove

The anti-mandate protests and truckers' 'Freedom Convoy' have dominated the news in Canada for the past two weeks, and prompted strong reactions on both sides of the debate.

Now a poll by the North Shore News shows almost 70 per cent of North Shore residents feel the protesters are a group of conspiracy theory promoters who are promoting more hate than they are engaging in civil dissent. They are also urging authorities to do what it takes to put an end to the anti-mandate protests.

Those opinions come at a time when tempers have flared across Canada. The 'Freedom Convoy' protests garnered international attention after shutting down border crossings in Ontario, as well as across the Prairies and in British Columbia.

Police moved in on the weekend to clear the Ambassador Bridge between Windsor and Detroit after protesters shut down the bridge and throttled a key trade route between the U.S. and Canada.

Emergencies Act invoked

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau also invoked the national Emergencies Act for the first time this week, giving the federal government extraordinary temporary powers to handle anti-government blockades. Police in Ottawa also began moving in on remaining protesters there on Wednesday, in response to a blockade that has snarled streets around Parliament for the past three weeks.

To find out what readers on the North Shore think of the anti-mandate protests, the North Shore News polled 1,729 readers and asked the question: What's your opinion of the "truckers' protest" convoy in Ottawa?

The poll ran from 2/2/2022 to 2/16/2022. Of the 1,729 votes, we can determine that 504 are from within the North Shore community. (Interestingly, the second-highest number of votes appeared to come from readers in Calgary!)

68% of readers oppose 'Freedom Convoy' protests

The results showed just over 68 per cent of readers feel the blockades are being orchestrated by alt-right conspiracy theorists who have held the nation's capital hostage. They want police to remove those protesters.

18% of readers support truckers

However, just over 18 per cent of local readers support the protest convoys and their message. Those readers feel the protesters are standing up for freedoms that have been increasingly taken away by the 'nanny state' under measures put in place to control COVID-19. A further 13 per cent of North Shore readers said they disagree with the protesters' message, but added acts of civil disobedience are fair methods of dissent in a democratic society.

The results from North Shore readers are similar to results from a variety of large national polls on the issue which have found between 60 and 75 per cent of Canadians opposed to the actions of the 'Freedom Convoy' protests, while between one quarter and one third of those responding support the protesters.

The full results of the North Shore News poll are as follows:

They're a group of alt-right conspiracy-theory promoters who feel it's OK to promote hate and threaten people while holding the nation's capital hostage. Police or other authorities should step in to remove them. 68.25 % local, 59.98 % total    
I don't like their message but acts of civil disobedience are fair game in a democratic society. I'm hoping the situation will de-escalate.13.49 % local,10.58 % total    
I support the truckers' convoy and their message. Why are truckers under a vaccine mandate while teachers aren't? Someone has to stand up for our freedom from the nanny state. 18.25 % local, 29.44 % total    
  Local   Total

Results are based on an online study of adult North Shore News readers that are located on the North Shore. The margin of error - which measures sample variability - is +/- 2.35%, 19 times out of 20.

North Shore News uses a variety of techniques to capture data, detect and prevent fraudulent votes, detect and prevent robots, and filter out non-local and duplicate votes.